Friday, March 16, 2007

Wide ReleasesPremonition. I have a premonition that audiences won't care if it sucks. When was the last time Sandra Bullock headlined a good movie? 12, 13 years? In regards to the film's poster, I direct you to this giggle from Andy Scott.Dead Silence another gore flick. There are so many every year did time fold back in on itself? Is it the early 80s again?I Think I Love My Wife wasn't this a show on HBO or something --The Mind of a Married Man? Filmmakers never get tired of stories about philandering husbands and the wives who won't have sex with them. There are two possible reasons to see this though. The first is obvious: Kerry Washington strutting around deliciously. The second is less obvious: This is supposedly based on Eric Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon. That blows my mind. Eric Rohmer. Chris Rock. What?

Limited ReleasesI realize I need to just let this go but I hate hate hate the enduring distribution model used on prestige flicks. I want to see films WHEN they're winning awards or being considered for awards, not years later (unless I'm catching up with classics). Denmark's 2005 Oscar submission Adam's Apples is opening (starring my two favorite Danish actors Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas), Kazakahstan's 2006 submission Nomad(with American stars like Jason Scott Lee and Jay Hernandez) is also charging in. And we're finally getting a look at The Wind That Shakes the Barleywhich won Cannes' top honor nearly a year ago. Aren't people already talking about this year's festival?) I'll never understand why movie distribution isn't sympatico with the time tested lucrative business & life advice "strike while the iron is hot"

7 comments:

Anon, catch the international trailer. It's actually much better. Rogen doesn't appear to be such an arse.

On the matter of releases, it's sort of silly that Barley is only just being released in the US (it was out here last year). It's like how people thought Pan's Labyrinth was snubbed for Best Picture/Director at the Oscars, when really it was the distributor's fault. That movie screened at CANNES! It's been available since May. Plenty of time to work it up.

But, really, I don't bat two eyelids when Americans complain about release dates because we will NEVER get some of these movies. And if we do it might be two, three, five years later. direct-to-dvd.

Adams Apples is bizarre, but fun. Wind that Shakes the Barley - is full on. Be prepared. In my audience when the lights came up, the subdued mood told its own story about the film - everyone shaky and glancing sideways at each other as if to say "well, at least we got through it."

I saw 24 films last Sept. at the Toronto Film Festival and certainly one of the best was The Wind That Shakes the Barley. And I saw that one sometime before noon. I was sure it would be released before December for awards consideration. Silly me. And it's now getting some great reviews which it deserves. Cillian Murphy and the rest of the cast are excellent.

Anonymous above mentioned Knocked Up. It got a rave review in Variety, which is only one review, but still.

I've stared at the poster under the "giggle" link for several minutes trying my best to find anything even remotely funny about the poster (was something modified?), the headline, even the comments... got nothing. "Giggle" is a word still associated with laughter, right? It's just a purdy poster, come on.

But then again, I actually enjoyed several jokes from the Knocked Up trailer, so maybe my sense of humor is off